Success Story
 

Early Education Key to Bird Flu Prevention

When it comes to bird flu, USAID believes that prevention offers the best chance for saving lives. This is especially true when it’s the lives of children that hang in the balance.

According to UNICEF almost half of the fatalities related to avian influenza to date have been children. Because of this, USAID has prepared for a potential avian influenza outbreak by supporting a community-based information campaign that teaches children and families actions they can take to prevent the potential spread of the killer disease. These good practices can prevent the spread of other diseases as well. The campaign is implemented by UNICEF and facilitated by SOS Kinderdorf.

Workshops with children and families have been held in schools, rural communities with little access to mass media, and among the Roma. Although avian influenza has not been documented in BiH, the invisible threat is present. Scientists fear that a new strain, transmissible among humans, could potentially kill up to 50 million people.

Behaviors to prevent the disease include good hygienic habits, separating domestic birds from wild ones, and cooking poultry meat and eggs at over 75 degrees Celsius.


Informisanje ključno za prevenciju ptičje gripe

Kada se radi o ptičjoj gripi, USAID vjeruje da prevencija daje najbolje izglede za spašavanje života. Ovo je posebno tačno kada se radi o životima djece, koja spadaju u rizičnu skupinu.

Prema podacima UNICEF-a, do sada su djeca činila gotovo polovinu oboljelih od ptičje gripe sa smrtonosnim ishodom. Zbog toga se USAID pripremio za potencijalnu epidemiju ptičje gripe tako što je podržao informativnu kampanju putem koje djeca i porodice uče o akcijama koje mogu preduzeti kako bi spriječili potencijalno širenje ove smrtonosne bolesti. Ovakva praksa može spriječiti i širenje drugih bolesti. Kampanju implementira UNICEF u saradnji sa SOS Kinderdorfom.

U školama, seoskim zajednicama koje nemaju dobar pristup masovnim medijima i romskim zajednicama održavaju se radionice u kojima učestvuju djeca i cijele porodice. Iako nije ustanovljeno prisustvo ptičje gripe u BiH, latentna prijetnja ipak je prisutna. Naučnici strahuju da bi nova vrsta virusa, prenosiva među ljudima, mogla potencijalno usmrtiti i do 50 miliona ljudi.

Preventivno djelovanje za sprečavanje ove bolesti uključuje dobre higijenske navike, odvajanje domaćih ptica od divljih, te kuhanje jaja i mesa živine na temperaturi iznad 75 stepeni Celzijusa. 

Last updated on: 12/01/2008

 

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